Devastation and Reform
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: She'd known. She'd always known. Ever since she'd laid eyes on him. A secret so terrible, not even the villagers would dare speak of it. But she did. And for that, her life was devastated. NarutoxHinata! Fluff! Smut! Rating may change in later chapters!


**_A/N: Ugh. Never watch Guilty Crown. It fills you with depressing thoughts and gives birth to fics like these. Well, this ficlet will at least have a happy ending, unlike Guilty Crown, where I cannot control what happens! ARGH! Anyway, enough ranting. I was in a bit of a dark mood for this fic, and so I thought to my self, what the hell? Just a bit of dark, gritty humour and action for those of ya'll who need it._**

_"But she that dares not grasp the thorn, Should she never crave the rose."_

___Anne Bronte_~

**_Devastation and Reform_**

Hyuuga Hinata was devastated.

"We have told you not to associate with the demon boy but you continue to defy us as a Hyuuga. We have warned you time and time again over not to go near that boy but you have continued to spite us in spite of that. Since our words have done little to dissuade you, you have left us with little choice. You will be placed in the Branch house as of tomorrow and receive the caged bird seal. Fortunately, we do not have to wait to place the seal on you. We have modified the caged seal allowing us to place it on anyone at a given time." Helpless to do anyting but watch, Hinata lay there, numbed the sedative as her father approached. Helpless to do anything, as he placed a seal on her forehead and channeled chakra into it. The seal glowed brightly for a few seconds before it did the strangest thing; it sputtered and faded away completely.

Then came the pain.

_"Aaah!"_

Hinata clutched her forehead in pain as she dropped to the ground. The seal started glowing again as more pain went through her body. The Hyuga elders waited until the seal stopped glowing to show its success but it didn't. Instead, Hinata continued to roll around in pain. Blood started leaking from her mouth creating small splotches of crimson on the otherwise pristine floor of the Hyuuga compound.

_'Not like this.'_

It felt like someone had poured acid inside her skull. And it hurt. Oh, it hurt so much. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to breathe, struggled to fight against the excruciating agony consuming the frayed strands of her conciousness; struggled to survive despite the overwhelming blackness blotting out her vision. Was this it then? Was she going to die? Was she going to perish without telling _him_ how she felt? Would she simply fade away, with no one to remember her by? Naruto held no feelings for her. Her team did not care for her. No one cared about her. No one at all.

_'Not like this not like this not like this..._

Hinata clawed at her forehead hoping the pain would stop. It did not. If anything it only grew worse. The elders watched with confusion on their face as to why Hinata was like this but remembered how fragile she was or in her mind she was. Hinata screamed. She screamed against the pain, against her frustration, against her weakness, against any and everything that had ever made her weak and frail in her life. She screamed until her lungs collapsed. The seal had stopped glowing so the Hyuga elders took this as a sign of success. They walked away from her, _from their clan failure_, as the last shards of pain stabbed through her skull and swept her down into the darkness and left her alone._ I don't want to be alone, _she thought to herself._ Ah, I don't. I don't I don't I don't..._

_"I don't want to be alone anymore!"_

**_"Then don't be."_**

Hinata froze, her entire body stiffening as the last remnants of the paralysis left her body; as a wall of visible chakra washed over her. Craning her head to the side, she felt as if she'd been stabbed. Because her father had been stabbed. She watched, gawping, as the Head of the Hyuuga clan pitched forward, his head leaving his shoulders before her very eyes. They there, lay lifeless as he toppled to the floor, his features twisted in a rictus of fury in his last moments.

"Demon!" One of the Hyuuga Elders screamed, only to scream as they meet a similair fate; as they too were struck down where they stood. Thousand upon thousands of shrieks erupted into the air, the sounds of combat puncuated by the death rattles of the dead and the screams of the dying. Hinata struggled onto her stomach as the slaughter continued; a strange numbness overtaking her as she saw the one responsible for their demise.

"Murderer!" Another cried as he advanced, brandishing a kunai with all the skill and grace of a true shinobi. "You _dare_ walk the halls of our compound-_ARGH!" _Within a twist and a sickening squelch, the Hyuuga lost his life; because the hand had just retreated from his chest, leaving him heartless and lifeless.

"I've dared to do a lot of things, lately." A feral voice rumbled, brandishing the glistening dagger anew. "One more can't possibly hurt."

The murderer in question was a bright-haired young man with the swirl of the Uzumaki clan at his lower back. Hinata couldn't see his face. He wore a hideous orange and black jumpsuit, the colours only slightly adapted from his traditional orange and blue. Crimson chakra sheathed his form, coallescing into his hand in the form of a swollen sphere. He shoved said sphere into the gut of an unsuspecting Hyuuga, relieving the man of his stomach, emptying its contents onto the floor. The technique was eerie as it was unmistakeable. Undeniable and yet Hinata wanted to deny it still.

_Naruto._

Hinata felt as if she'd been stabbed. She was staring at Uzumaki Naruto. Self-titled pariah of the Leaf and prankster extrodinaire. The object of her affections. The boy she had aspired to, the nindo that she herself had accepted. A shinobi as kind and caring and incredibly _dense_ as they came. When had she stopped admiring him? When had that gone from the humble emotion of a respected colleauge, to something more? When had she stopped admiring him, and begun to love him?

When had she developed these feelings for him? She couldn't remember. She'd always had some sort of sentiment for him. Had it been during her bout against Neji? Or perhaps when she created and mastered her own version of the Jyuuken? She didn't know. All Hinata knew, and all she wanted to know, was why. Why was Naruto-kun doing this? Why was he here? Why had he come here? Why was he killing everyone?

It was only seven days ago that she'd finally seen him. After three years, three terribly long years, he'd returned from parts unknown with Lord Jiraiya. Her team had had the fortune_-or misfortune-_of encountering them first. Much to Hinata's dismay. There had been no news, no calling ahead. Naruto-kun simply appeared, strutting down the street, taking everything in with that foxy grin she loved so much.

At the behest of Kiba and Shino, she'd worked up the courage to talk to him. They'd barely spoken two sentences to each other before_-stammering and sputtering-_she'd asked him out. Even then she'd had to veil it in secrecy, using the excuse that they should train together. Naruto-kun had been all for it, of course. Eager as ever to show off, he'd gladly accepted her invitation, and so it was decided. They would later meet at the training ground seven, the very place where he'd first become a genin.

Pained as she was, she blushed at memory of what had nearly occcurred that day. But it was just that now. A memory. After that they'd gone their separate ways. How had that, gone to _this?_ How had a simple conversation devolved into this display of violence? Hinata watched him tear through the Hyuuga Council and couldn't find the answer.

_Why are you doing this?_

_"Burn."_ Naruto breathed, hurling an explosive kunai into the far wall. Hinata blinked as the explosion spewed forth fire, laying waste to the Hyuuga Compound. Soon her world was boiling with black smoke and the threshing floor was mantled in fire. A sinister aura bled from his fingertips into the air, solidifying it in a curved wall between them as the flames began to spread.

_'Pretty..._

The flames were beautiful. The looked like autumn leaves -red and gold, rattling as the wind tore through them, breaking free and whirling into the sky. The compound was flying away. Thatch and wattle rafters all were going up in ash. Hinata watched the compound and the Hyuuga burn. Everything was fire. Still, it was beautiful. She tasted blood on her tongue and in her mouth when she breathed. She was going to die here, amidst these beautiful flames, slain by the one person she cared for more than anyone else. What a fitting end for such an inept person.

He stared at her for a moment, his face a rictus of fury as he dropped the kunai. Whatever he had come for, he'd doubtlessly found it. She could see her family's scroll in his fist; could smell the soot sinking into her skin even as she realized that she was going to die here. He stalked slowly toward her and unfurled the scroll. The years had been, oh so kind to him, Hinata realized. He was slender and lithe, and yet she could see muscle beneath the open folds of his jacket, flayed to pieces by his own chakra. Her eyes grew slack, unable to maintain their focus.

Nothing at all like the boy he'd once been. Naruto, this burning man that he'd become, said nothing to her. Instead, he inhaled sharply. Hinata silently braced herself for that cold night. Her end was nigh, and she was prepared to meet her maker. Silently, she bemoaned the fact that she was about to be slain, not by her childhood crush but by the monster he'd become.

Hinata didn't fear the fire. She didn't fear him. She was young and strong_-moreso the former than the latter-_and she didn't fear death. She did not fear this. No, what she did fear, above all else was to be alone. Secretly, she thanked Kami that Neji was out on a mission and Hanabi...well, she hoped that her sister had enough sense to be _away_ from the compound when this happened. If not then...

And then Uzumaki Naruto did the unexpected.

He spoke.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm so...very sorry."

He knelt before her and pressed the scroll to Hinata's forehead. Slowly, the pain began to subside. She could no longer feel the Caged Bird Seal eating away at her retina. She felt only blessed peace. She was about to thank him when he pinnioned her with his gaze, those soulful orbs of uncanny crimson boring into her own, pearly white. Something flickered in them, for the briefest instant. It was...pity? Remorse? She couldn't be sure and before she could it was gone, replaced by an emotion so intense, so overwhelming, that she it left her eyes stinging.

Then she was rising from the floor. She felt strong arms encircle her legs and her back, hoisting her upright. Her forehead kissed his chin; her skin stinging against the surge of malevolent chakra exuded by his tennant. A sharp pricking sensation pierced the flesh there and cold fury burned the world white. Then it was over. Dimly aware of blood, _her blood,_ trickling between her eyes, Hyuuga Hinata contented herself to be borne aloft by her beloved blond. With a single leap he cleared a nearby window and brought a breeze across her flesh. She felt the cold night air bite against her bare arms as they fled the compound, but beyond that she knew nothing. She was tired. Oh, so incredibly tired. She had just enough strength left for one mumbled inquiry. To which he remarkably responded.

"..."

It was a small grumble, clearly not meant for her ears, but Hinata heard it anyway.

"Pervy Sage is gonna kill me for this."

With those words ringing in her ears, the Hyuuga heiress fell back amidst her memories.

**A/N: And there you have it! This story can go any way! It is up to you, the reader! READ! REVIEW! VOTE! All opinions and suggestions are welcome and will be taken into account! Either way, we see a flashback next chappy with a potential lemon! XD**

**R&R! =D**


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